Information

Originally called Rusty One when played because of the buzz word that Bellamy used to describe it when played "Cheers, cheers... bit rusty that one" (Rock Oz'Arènes 2002).

Stylistically, it bears more resemblance to the epic, widescreen, cinematic tone of Black Holes and Revelations, featuring extensive use of synthesisers and vocodered backing vocals. The song is bookended by faint music box melodies and whispered vocals. Later, there is a fuzz-factory solo followed by a short instrumental breakdown featuring twinkling piano, thumping bass and eerie guitar in the style of Invincible, before Bellamy's humming build it up to a final chorus with the ever-thumping drums.

In the Making of Absolution documentary, Matt talks about how by the time they got to recording Absolution, they felt Eternally Missed was one of their best songs. However, after recording the album, Matt said he did not think it would even become a b-side.

Live

Eternally Missed was performed just four times upon its live debut. At the time, the band viewed the song as one of their finest and were keen to show it off at the last few dates of 2002. Their opinion had changed in the studio, with Matt once saying he thought the song wasn't even good enough to be a b-side. Thankfully, however, the song was released as the b-side to Hysteria, with the band never playing the song live again. Matt in 2018 cited Eternally Missed as an example of a song that the live audience didn't particularly care for, which is one of the reasons the song wasn't kept around in setlists.